Achieving Sustainable Development in Africa
International Conference at the University of Pittsburgh
March 29-30, 2012
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ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
The African Studies Program of the University Center for International Studies (UCIS), and the Ford Institute for Human Security of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), in collaboration with the Institute for International Studies in Education (IISE), the School of Public Health and the Ridgeway Center, will be hosting an international conference on “Achieving Sustainable Development in Africa.” This conference has been organized in collaboration with partners from African institutions namely: the Forum for African Women’s Educationalists (FAWE) Nairobi Chapter, Kenya; the University of Ghana, School of Public Health (SPH); and the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference will bring together partners with a major focus on sustainable development in research, policy and practice from universities, research centers and community based organizations to share their mutual experiences and research regarding the constraints and opportunities for sustainable development in the following areas:
Health and Environmental Sustainability: Achieving sustainable development depends on healthy people. Therefore, public health is critical for long term development. It affects the quality of life as well as life expectancy, and determines the individual’s and household’s ability to plan for the future. Ill-health of breadwinners is a major reason why families fall into poverty. Furthermore, health conditions economic development through multiple channels, including investment in education and enhanced labor productivity. Investing in health is thus a significant means of accelerating development. Sound environmental management is critical to sustainable development and as a consequence, to poverty reduction. Growth will be short-lived if it does not conserve the natural environment and its resources. Africa’s Development (NEPAD) action plan states: “Africa is characterized by two interrelated features: rising poverty levels and deepening environmental degradation and resource depletion in Africa. Without significant improvement in the living conditions and livelihood of the poor, environmental policies and programs will achieve little success.”
Educational sustainability: Education is a major component of sustainable development, a human right and key to a society’s development and its fight against poverty. It is a precondition to the success of democracy and good governance, and crucial to progress in other related fields, such as health, gender equality and social welfare. Hence, education plays a fundamental role not only in poverty reduction but also in the promotion of human rights and prevention of conflicts. Education improvement will be discussed in the context of Education For All and Gender Equity as requisite for achieving sustainable development.
Gender equity: Achieving gender equity is an essential building block in sustainable development. Indeed, none of the three “pillars” of sustainable development can be realized without solving the prevailing problem of gender equity. This topic will be discussed with a focus on women’s relationship to environmental resources, economic well-being and social equity. Unfortunately, the central and crucial role that women play is often both overlooked and unappreciated, rendering them invisible and greatly diminishing their contribution as both producers and active agents in sustainable development.
Conflict mitigation and institutional governance: The political system should provide stability to allow people to engage in entrepreneurialism, creativity and production. Intra-ethnic and religious conflicts, border wars and social tensions, as well as the denial of basic human rights constrain efforts to promote sustainable development. Social and personal security is thus one of the necessary prerequisites for promoting sustainable development.
Each of the four identified areas will be discussed by a panel of invited presenters from both the U.S. and visiting partners from Africa—academics, policy makers and practitioners. Papers will be prepared in advance during the year before the conference, with close collaboration between individuals from partnering institutions (Pitt, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda). Key people in all the institutions will facilitate discussions as we examine critical components of sustainable development and advocate for the necessary resources and policy changes required to improve existing approaches to make them more sustainable. They will assess past strategies and why they have failed to address the deep economic, social and institutional changes needed for sustainable development and propose a way forward to achieving better outcomes.
Date: Thursday, March 29th- Friday, March 30th 2012
Venue: University Club House, Ball Room A and B, University of Pittsburgh
Organized by:
Ford Institute for Human Security
With Thanks to: